The present invention relates to a bogie for a railway vehicle, and in particular to a bogie having independent wheels.
Bogies of the said type are known, which substantially comprise:
a central support structure;
four independent arms carrying respective axles of the wheels and articulated to the support structure by means of resilient bushes;
suspension means for a body of the vehicle; and
a centre casting fixed slidably to the support structure with the possibility of relative rotation with respect thereto about its vertical axis, and adapted to be rigidly fixed to the vehicle body.
Bogies of the type briefly described have a modest self-steering capacity due to the deformability of the resilient bushes by means of which the arms are articulated to the support structure. The action of the forces exchanged between the wheels and rails in a curve is not, however, sufficient to cause a complete self-steering action, that is to say the axles of the wheels are not disposed in perfectly radial positions with respect to the curve of the track; this results in considerable wear on the wheels and the rails.